SERMON SUMMARY:This past Sunday we started our new sermon series to help us engage the season of Lent, “Meditations on the Life of Jesus” from the Gospel of John. Lent is a season where we symbolically enter the wilderness with Jesus. In many ways, life in this present age is like a wilderness journey. There is much sin, pain, suffering, hungering and thirsting for something of substance. In the wilderness we are asked to walk by faith, God’s presence and power are not always obvious to us and in fact, God often seems hidden. To survive in the wilderness we must set our minds and hearts on Christ. This happens as we allow the scriptures to form our imagination, by which the Holy Spirit shines upon our hearts with the presence of Christ. We enter John’s Gospel from the wilderness journey and our longing is to look upon Christ’s life through the many images John gives us to consider. This week we saw that Jesus is the giver of “the Raiser of the Dead.”

SCRIPTURE TO MEDITATE ON THIS WEEK:Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.” Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?” So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.” Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!” - John 11:38-44 (NLT)

MC/DNA DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:Read John 11:1-44. Slow down and imagine the scene. What sticks out to you about this passage? What questions come up?
What do we learn about God from Jesus in this story?
Why is it important that we embrace both the compassionate tears and the powerful words of Jesus? How might Jesus response to those experiencing grief guide us in our own grief and as we care for others?
How might God be inviting you to trust His power to bring new life in areas of our life or others that we have considered hopeless and dead? Stop to pray for the resurrecting power of Christ to bring new life there.

Resources:Remember to download or pick up a copy of the Lent prayer guide. This is a daily guide that leads you to read, pray, and reflect on Christ in the scriptures and God’s presence at work in your life.